FY10 NEA Grants to Orchestras

April 28, 2010, Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts awarded 119 grants to orchestras through the Grants for Arts Projects categories in FY2010, totaling $3,117,800. Awards to all arts disciplines through the NEA’s three largest grant categories – Challenge America: Reaching Every Community Fast-Track Review Grants, Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth, and Access to Artistic Excellence – numbered 2,369 and totaled $61.411 million.

Congress allotted $167.5 million in total funding for the NEA in FY2010. In addition to the grants awarded through the Grants for Arts Projects categories, FY2010 funding supports the following:

Congress requires that 40% of NEA grant funds be made available directly to the states; $57,719,600 million has been awarded through Partnership Grants to state and regional arts agencies. Orchestras, in turn, benefit from grants at the state and local level.

Support for Arts on Radio & Television included grants to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Seattle Symphony totaling $75,000.

American Masterpieces: Chamber Music grants include support to three orchestras for smaller ensemble work: Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Apollo's Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra.

The NEA provided $1.05 million for Literature Fellowships in Creative Writing in FY2010 and $275,000 in FY2010 support for Literature Fellowships in Translation.

Additional FY2010 grants include awards for Coming Up Taller and the National Heritage Fellowships.

NEA FY2010 funds are also allocated to national initiatives including the Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, Shakespeare in American Communities, NEA Jazz Masters, NEA Opera Honors, American Masterpieces, and NEA Arts Journalism Institutes.

Below is a complete list of major grants to orchestras and parent organizations of orchestras. Grants for programs related to the orchestra field are also included. Complete lists of grant amounts and project descriptions for awards in all disciplines and categories may be found on the NEA web site, www.arts.gov.